Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The Impervious Fiance

(Part 2) 

W ORD SPREAD throughout the countries near the Ranoa University of Magic with remarkable speed: A Demon King had appeared. 

Normally, news of a Demon King would have reached them well before his actual arrival. But this particular Demon King had moved so quickly that they only found out in the moment he was crossing through their territory. The rulers of these nations were thrown into a state of confusion and panic. 

This was understandable. As a basic rule, Demon Kings never ventured off the Demon Continent. There had been warlike, aggressive Demon Kings long ago, of course, but virtually all of them were exterminated in the Laplace War centuries ago. The survivors who now ruled over the Demon Continent were peaceful or cautious by nature, and largely disinterested in conflict. 

Yet regardless of their personalities, these kings were still powerful enough to take control of a piece of the terrifying Demon Continent. If one of them decided to go on a rampage in humanity’s territory, the damage would be incalculable. Ranoa, Neris, and Basherant all reacted instantly to Badigadi’s arrival, dispatching all the knights at their disposal to intercept him; they also called upon the Adventurers’ Guild for emergency assistance. But their forces were still some distance from the University of Magic. 

As an emergency stopgap, the small units of Magic Nations soldiers already garrisoned in the city of Sharia joined all the local adventurers and members of the Magic Guild and surrounded the campus. If it came to the worst, they were ordered to slow down the Demon King until the main forces could arrive. 

However, the Demon King’s purpose in coming here remained a total mystery. It wasn’t difficulty to identify him. There was only one Demon King with jet-black skin and six arms: Badigadi the Immortal. He was one of the ancient kings who’d lived since before the Laplace War. His most notable power, as his name suggested, was literal indestructibility. Thanks to his peaceful nature, little was known of his capabilities in battle, but some historians believed he’d once fought against Laplace himself. That would mean even the fearsome Demon God had failed to totally destroy him. 

Why had such a person suddenly appeared in the Ranoa University of Magic? And why had he wandered around its campus, knocking both innocent students and visiting beastfolk unconscious as he went? 

It would be a while before anyone learned the answers to these questions. 

Rudeus 

A T THE MOMENT, I was standing at the center of the University’s Advanced Magical Training Ground… which was their fancy name for this flat, empty courtyard. Facing me was the Demon King Badigadi. I held my head high and folded my arms in an attempt to project some confidence, but to be perfectly honest, I was freaking out a little. Can you really blame me, though? How calm would you be if you had a massive six-armed tank of a demon glaring at you like that? 

Okay, fine. I’d started to feel like I was pretty powerful lately. I have to admit that much. But we were talking about a Demon King here. That was a couple levels above what pretty powerful could deal with. It felt like the universe was punishing me for getting cocky. I wanted to run screaming for the hills, honestly. 

I looked behind us and saw that we’d attracted a huge crowd of rubberneckers. It seemed like an even mix of male and female students, with a good number of professors as well. If I turned tail and ran here, what were they going to think of me? 

On reflection, I didn’t give a crap about that, actually. But it felt like I’d lost my chance to escape. 

All of a sudden, someone broke through the crowd of spectators and trotted toward me at a brisk jog. It was an older man who wore a slightly conspicuous wig. The look worked on him, though. “I’ve heard about the situation from Jenius. My apologies, but could you please buy us some time? We’re gathering our forces as quickly as we can.” 

With that said, he turned around and returned to the crowd. 

Who was that guy supposed to be, anyway? I felt like I’d seen him somewhere before. It wasn’t coming back to me right now, but I understood what he was trying to tell me, at least. Vice-Principal Jenius was aware of the situation, and he was going to get me out of this mess if I managed to stall for long enough. It was nice to have people with pull on your side sometimes. 

“Hrm,” said Badigadi, watching me with all of his arms folded. “The boy’s certainly taking his time…” 

“I don’t think it’ll be much longer,” I replied. 

Right now, Fitz was off fetching me my trusty staff Aqua Heartia. At my request, Badigadi had agreed to wait until it got here. I hadn’t expected Fitz to take this long, though. It wasn’t that far from the library to my dorm, and I’d left the staff standing right next to my bed with a cloth draped over it. It should have been easy enough to find. 

“Mm. I hurried over here because I know you humans are always in a rush, but you seem to be quite composed, boy. I’d expect no less from someone who intrigued my fiancée.” 

“Your fiancée… by which you mean, uh… Empress Kishirika, yes?” 

“Indeed,” Badigadi nodded firmly. 

I hadn’t forgotten about the Demon Empress Kishirika Kishirisu, of course. She was the one who’d gifted me my Demon Eye. At first I hadn’t believed she was the real deal, and she’d left so abruptly afterward that I was too stunned to make sense of what had happened… 

Still, why the hell was her fiancée showing up to fight me now, after all this time? Surely he wasn’t looking to marry Linia or Pursena. “You know, your Majesty, I only had one brief conversation with the empress. Although she did grant me this Demon Eye.” 

“Well, she’s always talking about how impressive you are, boy! It’s been ages since I heard her speak of anyone with such excitement in her voice. I’m a very tolerant man, of course, but I’ll admit I was a bit jealous!” 

Jealous? Seriously? It wasn’t like I’d done anything with her, right? Why would he be angry at me? Was it that joke I made about wanting to have a go with her? That didn’t amount to anything, though. She turned me down because she had a fiancée… which would be this guy. Right. 

“Th-There’s nothing special about me, I assure you,” I said, in the calmest voice that I could muster. “I’m just a sad, pitiful mouse of a man, honestly. I can’t imagine why a Demon King like yourself would be jealous of me… the Demon Empress must have been exaggerating somewhat.” 

Badigadi responded by bursting into laughter, as if I’d cracked a truly hilarious joke. “Bwahahahaha! Don’t be modest, boy! I’ve heard all about that astonishing pool of mana you’ve got inside you.” 

Astonishing felt like a strong word. Yes, it was becoming obvious that I had way more mana than most people did. But surely it wasn’t anything impressive enough to make a genuine Demon King jealous… right? 

Come to think of it, though, Kishirika had made some comment about this as well. What were her words exactly? All I could really remember was her cackling with laughter for no apparent reason… “Uh… well, yes. I do seem to have a bit more mana than most people.” 

“Ahahahaha! ‘A bit more’, eh? Yes, indeed!” Badigadi proceeded to roar with laughter at some length. After a while, he abruptly fell silent and dropped to the ground with a loud thump. “Sit down, boy.” 

I quickly took a seat. Badigadi was still enormous, even seated. It felt like I was conversing with a mountain of muscle. It was a pity I hadn’t been blessed with that kind of a physique. 

“It seems you don’t understand what it means to be called ‘astonishing’ by the Demon Empress Kishirika Kishirisu.” 

“…Well, I guess I don’t, no.” 

“She told me you had an amazing amount of mana. More than Laplace, even. You’re the first person she’s ever said that about.” 

Laplace? Like… the Laplace? 

Apparently, I had more mana than a Demon God. That didn’t feel right to me, honestly. I hadn’t run out of mana in a very long time, true, but it wasn’t like my body was overflowing with power or anything. 

“The Demon God Laplace had one of the biggest total mana pools in recorded history. In other words, yours is also one of the largest ever.” 

“Oh, come on. That can’t be right.” 

Despite my mild protestations, my heart still jumped with excitement. After all, I was talking to a Demon King here, someone with centuries of experience in battle. It almost felt like a pro athlete telling me I had “potential” or something. 

“I don’t know the truth of it myself. Kishirika can be a little sloppy at times, after all. There is a chance she misjudged you.” 

Badigadi’s expression turned slightly sour as he spoke these words. Maybe he was remembering some costly mistake his fiancée made in the past? She did seem the type who made some careless errors, honestly. 

“Well, I’ll admit I’ve made an effort to deepen my mana pool over the years. I don’t know about having more than anyone else in history, though. Wouldn’t that mean anyone could break the record if they trained themselves like I did?” 

“No. Such a thing would normally be impossible.” 

Maybe this had something to do with the fact that I’d been reincarnated from another world, then? Or maybe the Man-God had somehow “cheated” on my behalf without me even noticing… 

“There’s one thing I’d like to ask you, your Majesty. If you don’t mind.” 

“What’s that? Feel free to pose any inquiry.” 

“Uh, just to be clear, I’m not a lackey of the person I’m about to name. So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t suddenly attack me.” 

“I already agreed to wait, boy. A Demon King never breaks a promise.” 

Really? Well, that’s good to know, at least. I’m gonna take you at your word on that one, okay? No violence, please… 

“Does the name Man-God mean anything to you?” 

“…Where did you hear that name, boy?” 

“He’s someone who appears in my dreams sometimes.” 

Folding his upper set of arms, Badigadi began to stroke his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm, I see. Your dreams, eh?” 

“Do you know something about him, your Majesty?” 

Badigadi paused for a moment, apparently deep in thought, then shook his head. “I can’t say! I think I’ve heard the name before, but I can’t recall where! It’s been a few centuries since anyone spoke of him to me, at the very least.” 

“Is that so? Well, thank you anyway.” A few centuries… that’s kind of vague. I guess he doesn’t have the best memory… 

“Not a problem! If I remember, I’ll be sure to let you know! Bwahahahahaha!” 

“I’d appreciate that.” 

“You’re so damn dull, boy. Laugh with me for once! Bwahahahaha!” 

Badigadi certainly seemed like a man who enjoyed his life. I hadn’t said anything especially funny in this entire conversation, but he never seemed to stop laughing. 

I found myself remembering the night I met Ruijerd. We’d first connected on a personal level by sharing a laugh, hadn’t we? Maybe laughter was a kind of common language here. If the person I was speaking to was laughing, it was probably rude not to respond in kind. 

All right then, let’s do this. “Bwaaahahahahahaha!” 

“Good! That’s the way, boy! It’s like Kishirika always says: laugh first, think later! Come to think of it, she was laughing the last time she died, wasn’t she?! Bwahahahaha!” 

Badigadi laughed yet again. Despite his fearsome appearance, he didn’t seem like such a bad guy. 

As we laughed, the group of spectators behind us started to get a little rowdy. I turned back to see what was going on. It looked like there was some sort of commotion in the middle of the crowd. I could barely pick out the sounds of shouting voices. 

“Let me go! I need to give him his staff!” 

“Stop it! If you give it to him, he’ll have to start the duel!” 

“But what if the duel starts anyway ? Are you just going to stand here and let him die?!” 

“Th-That’s not what I’m—” 

“Leave this to me!” 

“Ah! Zanoba!” 

“Zanoba Shirone?! Unhand me! Unhand— Ow! Ow ow ow!” 

Suddenly, Master Fitz burst free from the crowd and rushed toward me with ferocious speed. The guy was seriously quick on his feet. He had to be moving three times faster than I could. Maybe we should paint him red and stick a horn on his head… 

“Hah… hah… I’m sorry, Ru… Rudeus. The professors tried to stop me…” Gasping for air, Fitz came to a stop in front of me. He had my staff cradled in his arms. 

“You’re, uh… one hell of a runner, Fitz.” 

“Huh…? Hah… No. My shoes are magic items, that’s all…” 

I looked down at the boots that Fitz always seemed to be wearing. I hadn’t even realized they were magical in nature. His cloak was probably enchanted too, wasn’t it? He never took it off, even when it was hot outside. “No kidding? Are those sunglasses magical, too?” 

“Hah… hah… Oh, these. Yeah, they’re… uh, wait. Sorry, that’s a secret…” Fitz laughed softly and smiled in embarrassment. 

Why did this guy have to look so damn cute when he laughed, anyway? He was doing weird things to my heartbeat. 

“Hah… Anyway, here you go. Good luck, Rudeus… just don’t push yourself, okay? If you realize you can’t win, then just apologize and run for it. You’re up against a Demon King here. No one’s going to blame you. Your life’s more important than your pride.” 

Nodding, I took Aqua Heartia from Fitz. It had been a while since I fought a real battle with this thing in my hands. Let’s do what we can, partner. If we make it through this in one piece, I’m going to head straight home and marry my beloved Pineapple Salad… 

Throwing up a lazy death flag just for the hell of it, I pulled the cloth off Aqua Heartia. Fitz drew a sharp breath of surprise. A mischievous thought popped into my head, and I found myself unable to resist. “…Fitz, take a look at the magic stone on my staff. What do you think?” 

“I-It’s really big …” 

Oh wow. I think something downstairs just twitched. Whatever could that be? 

Well, enough playing around. 

Badigadi had already risen to his feet and was happily flexing all six of his shoulders. Had I managed to buy enough time? It seemed unlikely. But I had no idea how I was supposed to talk his ear off long enough for all the soldiers in town to gather, honestly. 

Fitz trotted back toward the crowd, looking a little reluctant to leave me. I wouldn’t have minded if he stuck around, personally. Some backup might be nice right now. Seriously. Help? Please? 

“Are you ready, boy?” 

“To be honest, I’d rather spend a bit more time chit-chatting…” 

“Bwahahahaha! Time enough for that later!” 

Did that mean he wasn’t going to kill me? No, it wasn’t safe to assume anything. This guy seemed careless enough he might accidentally knock my head off, assuming anyone with lots of mana could take a hit or two. 

I considered saying something. Could it hurt to ask him for a non-lethal duel…? 

Badigadi stood there casually, hands on his hips. He wasn’t going to come charging at me, from the looks of things. Maybe he was waiting for me to signal that the fight was underway. Just as an initial precaution, I activated my Eye of Foresight. 

“…Huh?” 

To my surprise, it showed me… nothing. There was literally nothing standing where I knew Badigadi was. 

“What’s got you looking so astonished, boy? Ah, I see. You already tried the Demon Eye Kishirika gave you, right? Sorry, but those things don’t work on me.” Badigadi let out a snort of pride as he announced this off-handedly. 

Wait, seriously? The Demon Eye’s completely useless against him? I guess I should have expected as much from a Demon King… This was definitely a problem. My chances of managing to avoid a fatal blow had just gone down dramatically. I was nothing special, physically speaking; if he hit me in the wrong place, that might be it for me. “Your Majesty…” 

“Badi’s fine. I permit those who laugh when I ask it of them to call me by that name.” 

“King Badi, then. I have a request to make.” 

“What sort of proposal?” 

“I’d like to ask that you spare my life, even if I lose this duel.” 

Badigadi burst into laughter once again. “Bwahahahaha! Begging for your life before we’ve even started? You never cease to amuse me!” 

“Well, a life’s a tragic thing to waste, don’t you think?” I said. 

“Ah, yes. You humans die so quickly as it is! I hear many of you feel that way!” the Demon King replied with a cackle. “But why are you so sure you’ll lose? One would think such a massive pool of mana would lend a man some confidence.” 

“I was nearly killed by someone called the Dragon God not too long ago. That probably has something to do with it.” 

Badigadi’s laughter came to an abrupt halt. “The Dragon God? You mean Orsted? You fought him and lived?” 

“By the skin of my teeth. If he hadn’t spared me on a whim, I wouldn’t be standing here today.” 

The Demon King’s face was suddenly very serious. This seemed less than ideal. I’d let down my guard when he didn’t react to the name Man-God. What if Orsted was the one I shouldn’t have mentioned? Talk about careless… 

“Tell me, boy. Were you able to wound the Dragon God in that fight, even slightly?” 

“Huh? Yeah, I guess. I managed to tear a little skin off the palm of his hand. That’s it, though.” 

Badigadi pulled his mouth tightly shut and stared at me fiercely. The effect was slightly intimidating. 

C-Come on, why don’t we start laughing again? Bwahahaha… 

“In that case, I’d like to make a request of my own.” 

“O-Oh really?” I said as meekly as I could, watching Badigadi’s expression. “What would that be?” 

“You get one shot.” 

“…” 

“Hit me with your very strongest magic. I’ll give you one chance, no more. Use the spell that hurt the Dragon God, perhaps. Should it manage to pierce my battle aura and do me harm, then you win. If I am undamaged, then I win. How does that strike you?” 

Ooh. Sounds good to me! I couldn’t have asked for a better offer, really. I wouldn’t even have to get my face punched in, though? “Uh, sure, but isn’t that a little one-sided?” 

“One-sided? One-sided, you say? Hm, true enough! Very well then. If you can’t scathe me with your magic, then I’ll hit you with a counterattack. It will be a single blow, no more!” 

Dammit. I just dug my own grave. 

One attack from this monster would probably be enough to pulverize my heart. I should probably stop talking right now before I managed to dig myself even deeper. 

“I understand. Let’s go with those terms, then.” 

“Very well!” 

At long last, I held Aqua Heartia forward and began to concentrate. 

“Whooo…” 

I drew in a long, deep breath, and began to gather as much magic power as I possibly could into my staff. I was casting Stone Cannon, one of the spells I was most familiar with. But I made sure this projectile was far harder than the one I’d fired off at Orsted. I’d cast that spell quickly, out of sheer desperation. I hadn’t been holding my staff, and I’d only used one hand. This time, there was no rush at all. Once I gathered enough mana, I should be able to make my spell several times more powerful. 

Projectile: Solid and incredibly hard. 

Creating the ‘bullet’ wasn’t fundamentally any different from how I made a figurine. But I focused entirely on its hardness, ignoring properties like toughness and resilience. I shaped it like a spindle, tapering to a fine point, and added a pattern of grooves. 

Modifications: Rapid rotation. 

The faster it spun, the better. I focused until my bullet was just a blur. I had no idea how many rotations per second I was even looking at. 

Velocity: Maximum. 

This was the most critical part, so I devoted as much mana as I possibly could to it. I’d never used so much mana on a single Stone Cannon before. Given the amount of time it took to prepare, this version of the spell wouldn’t be much use in real combat…and for most monsters, it would probably be overkill. But this man was a Demon King. He might very well just shrug it off. At the very least, I hoped I could put a scratch on him. I really didn’t want those massive arms smacking me in the face. 

“Okay then. Here goes.” 

“Excellent! Have at me!” 

I fired off the spell. 

My bullet tore through the air with a high-pitched whine. There wasn’t any recoil; for whatever reason, there never was with magic. But that didn’t make its power any less real. 

The stone slammed into Badigadi with an enormous bang. His entire upper body was blown apart; his six arms disintegrated instantly. His lower half, still intact, soared dozens of meters backward and plopped limply to the ground. 

“…Huh?” 

What was left of Badigadi didn’t even twitch. I’d been expecting my attack to just…bounce off him with a “twang” or something. What was this? 

Slowly, fearfully, I walked over to Badigadi’s body and looked down at him. The intact part of his body wasn’t bleeding for some reason. Was that just how it worked with a Demon King? Given how much he laughed, I’d figured he didn’t have much use for tears… But maybe there wasn’t any liquid in his body whatsoever. 

“…Huh?” Wait, really though? This isn’t happening… 

Is he dead ? 

I still didn’t understand what had just happened. When I turned around, I found the crowd of spectators staring at me in total silence. Their gazes made me cringe. Nobody was even moving. 

I swallowed reflexively. The sound my throat made seemed weirdly loud. Had I actually killed him? 

That can’t be right. I mean, come on. He seemed so totally confident. Huh? He said he was immortal, right? He told me to give him his best shot! He didn’t seem worried at all! What the hell?! 

I needed to calm down. And make sure I understand exactly what I’d done. 

Slowly, fearfully, I turned around to look at Badigadi once again. 

“Bwahahahaha! I am REVIVED!” 

I very nearly fired off another Stone Cannon immediately. 

Badigadi was standing right in front of me, alive once again… and about half as big as before. He was roughly my height now, but his head wasn’t any smaller than before. The effect was a bit bizarre. That wasn’t really important right now, though. 

“Oh. You’re alive…” 

That was definitely a relief. I’d convinced myself that I’d killed a man without even meaning to. Good thing I wasn’t up against a normal human being. 

“Bwahahaha! I thought I was done for, boy! In any case, now it all makes sense. It was wise of you to prevent a real battle. Had we fought in earnest, this whole area would have been reduced to a barren wasteland!” Badigadi let out a sustained burst of laughter. I guess he found the idea amusing. 

Over the next few moments, all six of his arms came crawling to him across the dirt and rejoined his body. He was growing steadily larger, although he wasn’t quite back to normal yet. 

“You certainly sent me flying quite a distance, boy. Looks like it’ll take some time before I’m my old self again!” Badigadi seemed inexplicably excited about this. “You win this one, Rudeus!” he continued gleefully. “Feel free to call yourself a hero!” 

“I don’t think I will, but thanks anyway.” 

“At least give the crowd a victory cry, then! Bwahahaha!” 

Badigadi seized my right hand, still holding my staff, and pulled it up into the air like a referee announcing the winner of a boxing match. “Uh…” 

Well, whatever. If he says I win, I guess I win. 

“I wonnnn!” 

The spectators responded to my cry with total silence. For whatever reason, nobody made a sound. 

After a long moment, Badigadi nodded to himself. “They aren’t much fun, are they? Well, all right then. Time for you to take my punch.” 

“What?!” That wasn’t the deal! 

Before I could object, he smacked me straight in the face. With three fists at once. 

He was still holding my arm, of course, so I had no chance to defend myself. The blow knocked me unconscious. 

You… big liar… 

*** 

Following this, Badigadi apparently went off somewhere with that toupee guy, a handsome middle-aged man in armor, and an old guy in a robe. It sounded like the bigshots had a few things to discuss in private. 

As for me, I lay in the infirmary for a while before regaining consciousness. Once I came to, Vice-Principal Jenius took me to a room in the Teachers’ Building and offered me some tea and snacks while I recuperated. 

He didn’t have much to tell me. It sounded like he wasn’t entirely clear on what was going on himself. The Demon King had shown up out of nowhere, wandered around knocking out both students and beastfolk alike, challenged me to a duel, allowed me to claim victory, and then knocked me unconscious. That was all we had to go on, and it wasn’t enough to make sense of the situation. Still, it seemed no one Badigadi knocked out had actually died from their injuries. He was supposedly a peaceful guy by nature, so that probably made sense. 

A number of very important people were trying to figure out his objectives as we spoke. The guy with the toupee was actually the principal of this school. It took me a minute to recall his name was Georg, a King-tier Wind magician. I’d seen him once before, back at the entrance ceremony. Joining him in his talks with Badigadi were the leader of the Magic Guild and the captain of the Magic Nation knights stationed in this city. 

“But I must say, Rudeus, that was a truly remarkable effort. You struck down a Demon King with a single preemptive strike, and he even acknowledged you as the victor! The principal believed a lone adventurer like yourself could only buy us a little time… but surely no one could have expected this! Why, you got my blood pumping for the first time in years!” 

There was genuine excitement in the vice-principal’s voice. It sounded like the crowd hadn’t heard my discussion with Badigadi before the duel began. None of this was that impressive when you considered that he’d let me take the first shot, and I’d never really been in danger. 

Jenius fawned over me for a while longer before finally letting me go on my way. He did tell me to stay put in my dormitory until everything was fully figured out. 

As I left the Teachers’ Building, Zanoba came running up to meet me. “Ah, there you are, Master! I saw every second of your duel. It was truly impressive! But I suppose I should have expected you to triumph.” 

I shook my head. “He just let me spar with him, that’s all.” My spell had broken through his aura, true. But he hadn’t even tried to evade it or defend himself. And given the fact that he could regenerate completely when defeated, I couldn’t possibly have beaten him in a real battle. 

“You’re too modest by far!” said Zanoba with a chuckle. “Sparring evenly with a Demon King is impressive enough, I assure you.” 

When I glanced at Julie, she looked even more frightened than usual. I guess it had been a pretty gruesome spectacle, even at a distance. Hopefully I hadn’t scarred her for life. 

On the way back to my dorm, I ran into Cliff and a very pleased-looking Elinalise. “Hello there, Rudeus. What was all that commotion about earlier?” 

“Uhm, what were you two up to for the last few hours?” 

“Oh, you know… this and that. Hehehehe.” 

Cliff blushed red as Elinalise giggled. “You don’t have to tell him!” 

It seemed these two had been indulging in some grownup fun for the entire duration of the Demon King’s assault on the University. Good for them, I guess. “The Demon King Badigadi showed up out of nowhere and challenged me to a duel. I managed to win.” 

“Huh?” said Elinalise, looking mildly surprised. “He’s here already?” 

…Already? What the heck is that supposed to mean? “Did you know he was coming, Elinalise?” 

“Yes, I did. But he was staying with the Ogre tribe… he said he’d be staying there for some time, so I should go ahead by myself. Demons like him tend not to pay much attention to the passage of time, you know? I thought he’d be there for another decade or so at least, and it’s only been two years since we parted…” 

You probably would get pretty careless with time after living for a few thousand years, wouldn’t you? I know the years slipped by way faster after I passed 30 in my previous life… although that wasn’t exactly comparable. 

“In any case, he’s not a bad man, is he?” 

I nodded. “He seems like a decent guy, yeah.” He was probably better than most royalty, at least. That cheerful personality of his was kind of endearing. He did break his promise, but it seemed only fair to hit back when someone blasted your head off. 

“Uh, what are you two talking about?” 

“Oh my. Are you feeling jealous, Cliffy dear? Don’t worry! I belong to you now, body and soul.” 

“That’s not the p— Gah, stop clinging to me. Rudeus is watching…” 

“Let’s show him a thing or two, then…” 

The two of them began making out, so I shrugged and walked away. As I turned the corner, I heard Cliff protesting “But a Demon King wouldn’t just show up here!” 

Yeah. That’s what I thought too, buddy. 

Master Fitz was waiting for me at the entrance to my dorm. 

When he spotted me, he assumed an expression that I couldn’t quite decipher. Was this excitement, maybe? His cheeks were a little flushed, and his hands were clutched into fists. It almost looked like he was too fired up to put his thoughts into words. “You’re… You’re really strong, Rudeus!” 

Wow. Not very eloquent today, huh? 

“I never thought you’d take him down in one shot like that!” 

“Well, we agreed that I got to fire off one free attack at him, and its power would determine who won. So I just used the strongest spell I have.” 

“The strongest spell? But that’s the same one you used on me in your test, right? Was it a better version of that?” 

“Yeah, it was Stone Cannon. I just charged it up as much as I could.” 

“So even an Intermediate spell can be that powerful if you’re a real master, huh…?” With an admiring hum, Fitz turned aside and conjured a rotating stone bullet of his own. After a moment, he fired it off; it whistled through the air and pierced into the ground some distance away. 

“Well, I’m not sure I’d call myself a real master or anything.” 

“Don’t you mostly use Earth magic, though?” 

“Yeah, I guess. For a while there I was relying on Water spells, but a few years ago I switched over to using Earth almost exclusively.” 

“I knew it! You definitely get better with a discipline when you use it over and over again, right?” 

Was that actually true? It sounded plausible, I guess. I felt like I was getting steadily better at making figurines, for one thing. “…Yeah, I guess so. I think I’m getting a little more precise, at least.” 

“You can use more mana when you keep at it, too!” 

“Right, for sure. Making those figurines actually takes a lot of power, you know?” 

Fitz seemed to really be enjoying this conversation. Come to think of it, we hadn’t discussed magic like this very often, had we? 

“Oh, I’m sorry to go on like this. You must be tired, right? I didn’t mean to hold you up. Go get some rest.” 

“Uh, right. Thanks.” 

With that said, Fitz broke away and trotted off toward the school buildings. I’d sort of wanted to keep the conversation going, but he was probably busy. In the aftermath of that incident, the student council likely had a lot to deal with. 

At last I was back in my room. I leaned my staff against the wall. Today had been a very long day, what with the Demon King and all. Physical and mental fatigue washed over me the moment I glanced over at my bed. 

I lay down and let myself relax. 

*** 

The next month passed by somewhat uneventfully. After some careful negotiations, the three members of the Magic Nations had decided to recognize Badigadi as an official state guest for the duration of his stay in their countries. Badigadi, for his part, apologized for the hassle he’d caused by offering one of his arms to the Magic Guild so they could study his immortality. He’d also agreed to act as a temporary martial arts instructor for the knights stationed in Sharia. 

But that wasn’t all… 

At our next homeroom session, my two furry subordinates were once again in their seats. Badigadi had dealt with all their suitors, so it was apparently safe for them to venture out to class again. 

“You’re the man, Boss! Thanks again, mew. We’ll give you somethin’ for the trouble soon!” 

“Didn’t expect a Demon King to show up, though. We’re too damn sexy for our own good, yeah? Well done protecting us. I’ll give ya my permission to squeeze Linia’s breasts.” 

“Appreciate it.” Since I’d been given authorization, I went right ahead. 

“Myaaaaa!” Linia responded by scratching my face. 

What happened to my permission, huh? What happened to giving me something for my trouble? How purrfectly atrocious. 

“You’re always so… fearless with women, Master,” said Zanoba thoughtfully. “And yet, you never seem to pursue them seriously…” 

“Hey!” Cliff hissed. “Cut it out, Zanoba! You remember his condition, don’t you?” 

“…Ah yes, of course. My apologies.” 

Lately, Cliff had been sitting closer to us. It sounded like Elinalise had been telling him a few things about me here and there. I didn’t know exactly what she was saying, but it can’t have been that bad, since Cliff was considerably more friendly now. 

Incidentally, everyone seemed to be assuming that Eris had dumped me because of my condition. Not that it mattered, anyway. I’d forgotten all about her by now. Really! 

On a different note, Cliff and Elinalise weren’t making out in public nearly as much these days. It didn’t seem like they’d broken up or anything, though. Every couple days, I’d notice Cliff stumbling around the campus looking like a zombie. Elinalise was clearly keeping him very busy at night. They’d probably just reached an agreement to cut back on the public displays of affection. 

Still, wasn’t all this fun going to give Cliff trouble with his studies? I wasn’t going to meddle, of course. It was his life, and he could live it how he wanted. If anything, I was kind of jealous. Just a little. 

“…Grandmaster, I don’t have enough mana to harden this part. Will you do it for me?” 

Julie was devotedly working on her figurines, day and night. I’d started giving her some tutorials on making them by hand, in parallel with our lessons on the magical method. That wasn’t my specialty, though, so we were getting some assistance from a dwarf in the same year as Zanoba. 

As for Demon King Badigadi… I still only had a very vague outline of the situation. He’d said that he came all this way because he was jealous of me. Would that mean I’d be held partially responsible for all the damage he’d caused? I wanted to think that Jenius wouldn’t have that. He was the one who’d recruited me, after all. 

My train of thought was derailed by the sound of the classroom door swinging open. With the exception of Silent, all of the special students were already in their seats. And it was too early for the professor to arrive. Had Silent actually showed up for once? 

“Bwahahahahaha!” 

A booming laughing echoed through the classroom. An instant later, he strode inside. 

Without a moment’s hesitation he marched up to the podium and gazed down at us like an emperor surveying his domain. “Behold! It is I, Badigadi—the immortal Demon King!” 

Is this seriously happening? Is he seriously…wearing a school uniform?! 

The Demon King Badigadi had formally enrolled at the Ranoa University of Magic as sort of a publicity stunt. He wasn’t studying much of anything, of course, but he made a habit of sitting in on classes and speaking to students who caught his eye… which usually resulted in them desperately fleeing for help. Those who were brave enough to stick around were supposedly rewarded with tidbits from his vast stores of knowledge, but they were few and far between. 

One way or another, though, things had come to a relatively peaceful conclusion.